This weekend the College Football Playoff kicks off and the Boise State Broncos will find their out their Fiesta Bowl opponent. In between the Heisman Ceremony and the Fiesta Bowl, now seems like a perfect time to take a look at the transfer portal and see what we know, what we can expect and start to shape what the 2025 roster may look like for the Broncos.
Losses so far
Boise State is losing 21 seniors including nine starters on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Include Ashton Jeanty (who has already announced he will be going pro at the end of this season) and the Broncos have 10 key contributors who need to be replaced with internal development or through the portal. Here is a full rundown on key contributors (200+ snaps this year) that the Broncos will lose at the end of this season:
HB Ashton Jeanty
WR Cameron Camper
LG Ben Dooley
NT Herbert Gums
NT Sheldon Newton
DT Mike Callahan
DE Ahmed Hassanein
CB A’Marion McCoy
S Seyi Oladipo
S Rodney Robinson
S Alexander Teubner
K Jonah Dalmas
Luckily, the Broncos have only seen nine players enter the Transfer Portal so far. None of those nine players were rotation players and the most notable of which was backup quarterback Malachi Nelson. Here is the full list of players to hit the portal so far and how many non-special teams snaps they played this season:
QB Malachi Nelson (57 snaps)
HB/WR Kaden Dudley (0 snaps)
WR Zamondre Merriweather (0 snaps)
WR Jackson Grier (0 snaps)
DE Demanuel Brown (0 snaps)
LB Udoka Ezeani (0 snaps)
CB Khai Taylor (7 snaps)
CB Dionte Thornton (12 snaps)
S Gabe Tahir (0 snaps)
The Broncos have managed to avoid any major losses to the portal so far, but losses in the secondary (through graduation and the portal) means almost the entire secondary will need to be rebuild this offseason. There are four contributors returning in the secondary (Zion Washington, Ty Benefield, Jeremiah Earby and Davon Banks) but behind those guys is almost entirely walk-ons, redshirts and True Freshman. More on that in a bit.
Potential Losses to the Portal
I think one of the main reasons we haven’t seen any major portal departures from Boise State is the fact that the Broncos are in the College Football Playoff. Contributors don’t want to leave a team with a chance to win a Fiesta Bowl and a National Championship. Spencer Danielson alluded to 13 players being illegally tampered with through the portal and I’m assuming most of those are not the nine players who have already announced they’re leaving the program. Once the Bronco season officially ends here are some guys that Bronco fans will anxiously await announcements that they’re returning.
(To preface, none of this is sourced and it is purely speculation of names to watch)
HB Sire Gaines: Gaines flashed massive potential before going down with a lower body injury that sidelined him for 9 games of his freshman season. Gaines was a highly touted recruit and a late flip from Arizona State. I bet there are Big 12 schools already inquiring about Gaines’ interest in hopping in the portal.
TE Matt Lauter: Lauter was a first team All-Mountain West selection this season and a guy who could be getting NFL buzz a year from now. Tight End is exceptionally hard to scout and develop, so don’t be shocked if a power program calls Lauter’s number.
LT Kage Casey: Casey may be a candidate for the NFL Draft. Most projections on him that I’ve seen are somewhere between the 3rd and 5th round. General consensus is he could benefit from another year in school. The going rate for NFL tackles in the NIL era is $1 Million-plus. If an SEC or Big Ten schools calls and offers seven figures, can Boise State keep him on the Blue?
RG Roger Carreon: Same story for Carreon. The rate on guards is a bit cheaper and Carreon is probably 2 years away from being an NFL guy, but offensive line is a massive need for power conference teams and Carreon is a good one.
DE Jayden Virgin-Morgan: A former Tight End turned pass rusher who has 10 sacks and all the physical tools in the world. JVM is a textbook transfer portal case of a guy who develops at a smaller school for a bigger program to cash in on when he finally pops. Pass rushers are always at a premium and I’m guessing schools have asked what Virgin-Morgan’s plans this offseason are.
LB Andrew Simpson: Simpson had an up and down year. Expectation coming into the year was that he could be a fringe-NFL prospect, and he finished the season without All-Mountain West honors. Could Simpson look for a fresh start to cash in on his upside?
S Ty Benefield: Benefield was an All-Conference honorable mention this season and has been billed the next great Boise State Safety. We haven’t seen the production yet, but could a big-time program have seen enough potential to get Benefield into the portal?
The good news for Bronco fans? Spencer Danielson has already shown a knack for player retention. Getting Ashton Jeanty to stay in Boise for his final collegiate season was one of the most important roster moves (or non-moves) in Boise State history. Jeanty reportedly turned down offers twice the size of what he got from BSU’s collective to stay on the Blue and he credits a lot of that for his love of Spencer Danielson. Can Spencer keep this core together? As of now, the Broncos would return 8 starters on offense and 7 on defense and likely be the favorite in the Mountain West and amongst G5 schools for a spot in the Playoff. Even if the Broncos can keep all 15 underclassmen starters on the roster, there is some additions to be made through the portal to round out the roster.
Who is Boise State targeting in the Portal so far
The first commit of this portal window was from Arizona CB Demetrius Freeney Jr. Freeney was a highlight touted JUCO recruit two years ago and spurned offers from Houston, Oklahoma and Indiana to commit to Miami. After a year at Miami, Freeney went to Arizona where he played just 69 snaps before transferring to Boise this offseason. He’ll have two years of eligibility and will compete with Jeremiah Earby and Davon Banks for a starting spot at cornerback. From players who have announced offers on twitter, it seems that Spencer Danielson and co. are targeting JUCO and transfer DBs to replace what is lost this offseason.
Additionally, there has been an emphasis on the defensive line in the portal so far. We’ve seen portal offers for Grand Valley State DE Niles King (Who signed with San Diego State), Wisconsin DE James Thompson, Tulsa DT RJ Jackson (who signed with UCF), App State DT Joshua Donald, Idaho State DE Logan George, Idaho DE Malakai Williams, UTEP DE Kyran Duhon and others on the DL alone. It seems that this staff wants to replace losses on the defensive line and secondary with portal talent instead of home-grown and developed players.
Defensive line and the secondary have been a majority of the portal offers that I’ve seen but there are other offers out there. There’s an offer for Washington OT Kahlee Tafaii and there are reports from Mike Prater of KTIK and BNN that Fresno State RB Malik Sherrod visited this past weekend. Buzz on Freeney was quiet before he committed and the portal tends to move quickly, so be sure to follow the Bronco Nation News staff on twitter for updates (@Nathan_26_ or @BJRains is a great place to start)
With all that said – last year, the Broncos added 8 transfers, 3 of which have played 200+ snaps (and Jake Steele may eclipse that mark if he plays in the Bowl games). It’s a good reminder that not every portal addition ends up working out, but I expect an active portal cycle for the Broncos this offseason.
Where else should the Broncos be targeting?
We know the Broncos are hitting defensive line and secondary hard. I imagine 4-6 of those open scholarships end up going to players along the D-Line or Secondary, but where else should the Broncos be looking to add talent?
Quarterback: I wrote an article about Maddux Madsen and the loss of Malachi Nelson. I concluded that the Broncos should look to add a Quarterback in the portal to compete with Madsen in the Spring and (more importantly) add depth to a room without proven talent. With Nelson gone and 2025 QB Hezekiah Millender flipping from Boise State to Georgia on signing day, the Broncos 2025 QB room looks like Madsen, RS-So. Max Cutforth, RS-Sr. Colt Fulton and FS-Fr. Kaleb Annett. Cutforth played 9 snaps this year (against Portland State), Fulton has 9 career snaps taken and Annett redshirted this season. The Broncos need a quarterback to backup (or compete with) Madsen and I would expect the Broncos try to add a 2025 QB commit.
Wide Receiver: With Camper graduating, next season’s outside WR room will have returning contributors Austin Bolt, Chris Marshall and Prince Strachan. That trio was primed for big things this year but has underwhelmed. As stands those three combine for just 38 catches, 501 yards and 5 touchdown this year. Camper has 55 catches, 837 yards and 4 touchdowns this year. The Broncos have needed a consistent WR2 this year and with the loss of Camper I think Spencer should look to the portal to find someone to compete with those in house.
Offensive Tackle: The Broncos already offered Washington OT Kahlee Tafai in the portal, but I think tackle should be a position of priority for the Broncos. Right Tackle has been this offensive line’s weakness this year, bouncing between Hall Schmidt and Daylon Metoyer for most of the year. Neither has played well enough to win the job outright heading into 2025 and competition for Right Tackle would be wise. More importantly, if Kage Casey decides to go pro or leave in the portal it would be prudent to have options to fill that Left Tackle spot.
Parting thoughts
The portal has complicated the way we view College Football roster construction. For Boise State, it means a team expected to return 15 starters could end up losing some of their best returning players. It also means that holes can be filled quicker than in prior generations. The Broncos had immediate holes that needed to be filled last Winter and were able to bring in Cam Camper to solidify the Wide Receiver room and Davon Banks and Jeremiah Earby to provide solid CB2 play. The Broncos also lost star WR Eric McAlister and exciting QB Taylen Green to Power 4 programs last Fall. The portal giveth and taketh away.
For this particular roster, boring would be better for the Broncos. If you could guarantee that the Broncos don’t lose any starters to the portal and can’t add anyone form the portal, I think this staff would take that deal. Reality doesn’t work like that of course; the Broncos will add players through the portal, and a few will likely be starters next year. The Broncos will also lose a key player or two and this staff will need to lean on portal evaluation and development to replace those players. Time will tell how the portal shakes out; in the meantime, there is a Fiesta Bowl to win.
